If he passed all tests in the hospital and has been cleared to play I don't see what else there is to do but play him. It's not like he was forced out to keep playing after a concussion, he was taken out of the game, tested, and is now ok. There's nothing wrong with him playing.

But, like a lot of the people saying he maybe shouldn't play, I'm pretty shocked to see that he's okay after that hit and the aftermath. I would have guessed something much more serious based on seeing it happen.

Every weekend I see many hits where I'm surprised the players walk away. Miller certainly hit the ground hard, but it sounds like they were cautious in taking him to the hospital and performing tests, and it's impossible to criticize the decision to put him back in action without knowing more.

I'm not, at all. I have no issue with him playing if the docs at the hospital say he's fine, I just never would have expected him to be fine.

And sure, I'm surprised anyone can get hit by Mike Martin and live, but most of the time getting off the field isn't as big of a deal as it was with Miller. The whole incident just looked like he was seriously hurt.

Even tho I'm sure most doctors in columbus don't want to be the guy who doesn't let the star QB play on Saturday, I'm 100% sure no doctor anywhere wants to be the guy who clears a kid to play and his injury is compounded by their bad judgement.

I'm not sure when I saw Braxton tweak his knee a few weeks ago I thought he was done for the season only to return after a series. This week I thought the same thing. He either has a terribly low tolerance for pain, is a huge drama queen or is incredibly resilient. Who knows I'm just glad the kid is ok and able to play.

OSU needs Braxton for them to be undefeated when Michigan rolls into town to spoil their "perfect" season

#6= The Doctors at the Hospital found out that nothing serious was wrong with him

Listen, I know we all want to shit on MSU and OSU for "doing whatever it takes to win" regardless of player safety, and maybe the Gholston thing is a little true. But I don't think that's the case here.

OSU fans may be crazy, but these Doctors would be risking a lot more than win/losses for a team if they cleared him when he shouldn't have been cleared.

Agreed. The prognosis from team doctors is one thing, where a coach could overrule...but being sent to a hospital and passing a battery of tests is different. My high school coach always said to ask the trainers, not family doctors, about injuries/rehab because the family doctors would err to the side of caution and have you sit out.

Or amazing, however you want to look at it. I thought he was severly concussed after that hit. He couldn't even stand on his own. I really hope, for his sake, that there's no Tomfoolery going on with the coaching staff and doctors so they will clear him to play. In all honesty though, it's great he's been cleared as that would indicate that there's nothing wrong. I hate to see those players get hurt, no matter who they play for.

This doesn't seem right to me. I just can't believe that he passed all the tests. Were the tests just someone asking Braxton "Are you ready to play?". I keep thinking back to the 2010 Illinois game when RR held out Denard with the game, and his job, on the line even after he was cleared to play, because he wanted to be cautious. But the kid how can't hold himself up is ready to play? It's just un-fucking-believeable.

First of all he was taken out of a game they were losing, so that speaks to the fact that they are taing it seriously. Second, think of the context of the situation...Why would Meyer risk further injury to his start player in a season that literally means nothing to OSU. It makes no sense.

I'm pretty sure Meyer wouldn't risk his meal ticket during a year he cannot play in the B1G Championship game or a bowl (much less the MNC) for a win over over Penn State. And as pointed out earlier - this isnt the frightened coaching staff making the call in the middle of the game a-la MSU - this a team of physicians who would face some serious malpractice litigation if they said he was ok and he really wasnt.

He left the game for good, got taken to the hospital, I'm assuming for a full battery of tests and not just the "how many fingers am I holding up?" test they gave Gholston. Not a lot to be critical of here..

Not everyone responds to concussions the same way. Some people get stone cold knocked out with nothing more than a headache the next day, others have lingering issues over comparatively benign hits

At least on Yahoo! Sports - here - Meyer is reported as saying that it was whiplash, and still other articles talked about a "whiplash-type" injury. Either way, it didn't look good on Saturday and I imagine he's still pretty sore if that is the case. Glad to hear that it is not nearly as bad as it initially looked though, and hopefully he is pain-free soon.

You're close. It's not that they know more than an actual medical staff it's that no mater what is said by someone from: OSU, MSU, ND or any SEC not named Vanderbilt they immediately just KNOW they are lying, cheating and generally up to no good. And only through the diligent and watchful eyes of these insightful posters is the world made aware of these schools obvious and continual chincanery.

Honestly, with the way he landed, the amount of pain he appeared to be in and the way he seemed to be favoring one side, it sounds like an exceptionally bad "stinger"-type injury. Those hurt like a mofo and can cause weakness, but they usually go away within hours (at most) and is certainly something where he'd be cleared to play for next week.

^^This^^ I did not have the benifit of examing him but I do have a medical degree and last week attended a CME lecture on concussions (and stayed at a Holiday Inn Express...boom). How in the world Ghoulson was ever put back in the game a few weeks ago is inexcusable/unexplainable. You literally can diagnose a concussion on the couch in that case. NOT in this one. He went to the hospital, they did the tests. A stinger/whiplash or other temporary nerve stretch irritation is a very plausable and a more likely diagnosis for his injury. He was in obvious, immediate pain, which is actually not normally the biggest symptom of a concussion. I would be not suprised if he was symptom free and practiced today without any struggles if this was the case.

His back-up won the game anyway, and what do they really have to play for this year that is worth the risk? Meyer might show the character that Kelly showed last week by letting his recently injured starter rest for a game. If Meyer is undefeated this year, how does he improve on it for next year?

It was a frightening how he was swung down to the turf and landed on his left side of the helmet. He then appeared to be very dizzy and disoriented while walking over to get on the cart. Head injuries are really scary.

Will someone explain to me why that wasn't a horse collar tackle? I've seen horse collar called on tackles that didn't look nearly that bad. Because he went down sideways instead of backwards? If that's the case the rule should probably just say you can't grab a guys shoulder pads behind the helmet. The tackler has way too much control over how you go down and most ways to go down in that position could cause injury.

Has to be tackled by the inside collar of his shoulder pads or jersey to be a horsecollar. In this case the defender just had a handful of jersey, but not the collar. It was a clean tackle per the rules.

Horse collar tacke = grabbing the shoulder pads.; the collar of the shoulder pads, that is. Grabbing the jersey is not illegal and never has been illegal in making a tackle. Josh Johnson's tackle was legal.

"It's a dirty game..." ~ Denard Robinson

As for medical clearances, the Gholston clearance still defies all explanation. The Ohio State staff, in contrast, did exactly the right thing in sending Miller off in an ambulance. It is impossible for me to understand how the same did not happen with Gholston in his game versus OSU. MSU has had to take the position that Gholston was never unconscious. Does anyone believe that?

Now, how Miller is cleared to practice starting on Tuesday is a bit weird to me. But as others have said, once a player is off the field, away from the coaches and in the setting of a university hospital, I stop playing armchair doctor.

Just to add to the bit about the horse collar tackle, the rationale for making that a penalty was to prevent fibula fractures that happened when players were dragged down from behind, pulling their weight and the defender's weight onto the trailing leg that often got trapped underneath. Terrell Owens had a pretty notable broken leg caused by this in the Eagles Super Bowl year.

Horse collar foul includes grabbing the neckband/collar of the jersey in addition to the collar of a player's shoulder pads. {pug150 said it correctly.} But it looks like the Purdue defender just grabs the back of the jersey. No foul; particularly on replay.

If he's cleared then good for him but... he was vomiting on himself and you could see it. Also couldn't walk without 2 others helping him. As far as concussion like symptoms go that's at the pretty clear end of the spectrum

I don't know if this is thread worthy so I'll tack it on to this topic. I was thinking about all of the coaching openings that seem to be looming, and it made me think of Ron English, whose star was certainly on the ascendant a few years back. Maybe it wasn't so smart to take the EMU job. That seems like a quagmire. It would almost be a step up for him to take a coordinator's job again.

book has closed on this one. they will probably be evaluating the shit out of him this week and he'll most likely be off limits for any contact as well. if he plays on saturday i will be mildly surprised.

I'd like for him to be healthy for The Game. I don't want them to make any excuses, and I'd love to beat them at their best. I'd also love for them to be undefeated coming into our game. That way it's a win win situation. If we win, we'll crush them. If we lose, their sanctions will crush them.

They have Braxton Miller, Kenny Guiton, Cardale Jones and next year will add in TX phenom J.T. Barnett. Historically, Urban Meyer football teams running this offense dating back to his Bowling Green days just don't have QB injury problems. Somewhat surprising, but there it is.